When my school organized a mentor group for girls, I was on the fence about volunteering. Years ago, I was a mentor, and I stayed connected to the same student all through middle school and beyond. In fact, she's in her early thirties now, and I'm friends with her on social media, following along as she works on a career and has adopted a rescue dog and cat.
But this time around, I'm a lot older and, I confess, a bit curmudgeonly. Even though I still have a good rapport with my students, and we have fun in class, I was concerned about spending unstructured time with a kid I don't even teach. What could we possibly have in common? I found out in early December when we met for lunch in my classroom. Well, it was supposed to be lunch, but she didn't bring anything with her, claiming to rarely eat in the middle of the day.
We did not have that in common, because I am always starved for lunch, but we were able to make small talk about the World Cup, her family, and school. "What's your favorite snack?" I asked her.
"I love fruit!" she said. "Especially watermelon. It's my favorite."
Fortunately the mentor program is much more formal than the one twenty years ago. There are monthly activities for the kids and the adults organized by the counseling staff and funded by the school. In January we did a spa afternoon with face masks and finger nail painting, and today we decorated Valentine's Day cookies. January wasn't really my scene, and my mentee wasn't there so I bagged a little early. Today I was equally convinced she would be a no-show because she hadn't replied to my reminder message, but I headed down anyway and was pleasantly surprised. The girls had fun with the cookies, and my mentee even won the door prize. At the end of the afternoon, we arranged to have lunch again on Friday.
"I'll bring the watermelon!" I told her.
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